History

CAD software started its migration out of research and into commercial use in the 1970s. Just as in the late 1960s most CAD software continued to be developed by internal groups at large automotive and aerospace manufacturers, often working in conjunction with university research groups. Throughout the decade automotive manufacturers such as: Ford (PDGS), General Motors (CADANCE), Mercedes-Benz (SYRCO), Nissan (CAD-I released in 1977) and Toyota (TINCA released in 1973 by Hiromi Araki's team, CADETT in 1979 also by Hiromi Araki) and aerospace manufacturers such as: Lockheed (CADAM), McDonnell-Douglas (CADD) and Northrop (NCAD, which is still in limited use today), all had large internal CAD software development groups working on proprietary programs. Some of the mathematical description work on curves was developed in the early 1940s by Robert Issac Newton from Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

CAD software uses either vector based graphics to depict the objects of traditional drafting, or may also produce raster graphics showing

the overall appearance of designed objects.

CAD is used in the design of tools and machinery and in the drafting and design of all types of buildings, from small residential types (houses) to the largest commercial and industrial structures (hospitals and factories). CAD is mainly used for detailed engineering of 3D models and/or 2D drawings of physical components. CAD stand for computer-aided design. Architects, drafters, engineers, and artists use CAD software to create plans and construction drawings.

(CAD) is a form of design in which people work with computers to create ideas, models, and prototypes
Computer Aided Design Most CAD software programs were still 2D replacements for drafting, with the main benefits to manufacturers being: i) reduced drawing errors, and, ii) increased reusability of drawings. One of the most famous of those 2D CAD software programs, and one which still exists (in name only) more than 30 years later, was the CADAM (Computer Augmented Drafting and Manufacturing) system originally developed by the Lockheed aircraft company. In 1975 the French aerospace company, Avions Marcel Dassault, purchased a source-code license of CADAM from Lockheed and in 1977 began developing a 3D CAD software program named CATIA (Computer Aided

Three Dimensional Interactive Application) which survives to this day as the most commercially successful CAD software program in current use. The 1970s started with simple 2D CAD software programs such as CADAM but research and commercial interest in 3D CAD software was rapidly gaining momentum and one of the most influential pieces of research of the decade was in complex 3D surface modeling for CAD software. K. Vesprille's (at Syracuse University) 1975 PhD dissertation "Computer-Aided Design Applications of the B-Spline Approximation Form", built on the 1960s research of de Casteljau, Bezier, Coons and Forrest and earlier (1973) work by R.F.Risenfeld (also at Syracuse University) and continues to be one of the foundations of complex 3D curve and surface modeling in 3D CAD software to this day. The first 3D solid modeling program, SynthaVision from MAGI (Mathematics Application Group, Inc.) was released in 1972, not as CAD software but as a program for performing 3D analysis of nuclear radiation exposure. SynthaVision's 3D models were solid models similar to the CSG (constructive solid geometry) models used by later 3D CAD software. In general though, and despite steadily increasing computer performance, solid modeling was still too compute intensive for most practical applications. Extensive solid modeling research was done by Charles Lang's group (at Cambridge University) and by Herb Voelcker and his team (at the University of Rochester's Production Automation Project) throughout the decade and the approaches taken throughout the 1970s by the two groups were fundamentally different, as were the CAD software products ultimately based on their research. Herb Voelcker's efforts focused on CSG solid modeling and resulted in the 1978 release of the PADL (Part and Assembly Description Language) solid modeler, which was subsequently used in several commercial 3D solid modeling CAD software programs in the early 1980s. B-rep (boundary representation) data structures had been proposed by B. Baumgart (at Stanford University) in the early 1970s for their advantages in finte-element meshing applications but it was Ian Braid, working in Charles Lang's group at Cambridge University, who released prolific research on the applications of b-rep in solid modeling throughout the mid 1970s to culminate in the 1978 release of the BUILD solid modeler, the first true boundary representation solid modeler implementation. Shortly after that release, Ian Braid moved into Shape Data Ltd. a CAD software consulting company which had been established by Charles Lang, Ian Braid and others in Cambridge in 1974. The increasing power of computers, and especially the introduction of lower cost minicomputers with optimized Fortran compilers and graphics capable terminals, were beginning to make CAD software more accessible to engineers. The commercial CAD software market was emerging and by the end of the decade was to be very strong and profitable. The increasingly widespread development and use of CAD software was prompting calls for some form of standardization and in late 1979, Boeing, General Electric and the NBS (then the National Bureau of Standards, now NIST, the National Institute of Standards) agreed to commence the first implementation of IGES (Initial Graphic Exchange Standard), which was published the following year. IGES facilitated the transfer of complex 3D curves and surfaces between different 3D CAD software programs and despite other initiatives continues to be the most widely used data-transfer format in CAD software to the present time.

Many CAD software vendors were founded in the 1970s and many new commercially available CAD software programs were released. In 1970 M&S Computing (later to become Intergraph) was established while in the following year Dr. Hanratty founded MCS. In 1972 MCS released the ADAM CAD software which was rapidly licensed as an OEM product by other CAD software companies, including Computervision, Gerber Scientific and United Computing and was used as the core (or kernel) of their commercial CAD software systems. By the end of the decade, the first wave of true commercial CAD software vendors had formed and many automotive, aerospace and consumer electrical/electronics companies were using some amount of commercially available CAD software in conjunction with their proprietary, internally specified and developed CAD software programs. Commercial CAD software included: Autotrol's Auto-Draft, Calma, Computervision's CADDS, IBM's CADAM (marketed on behalf of Lockheed), M&S Computing's IGDS (Interactive Graphics Design Software) and McAuto's Unigraphics (the result of McAuto's 1976 acquisition of United Computing) all contending to capture share in the new and dynamic CAD software market. The CAD software and hardware market had grown from under $25M in 1970 to just under $1B in 1979, with investor interest in CAD software vendors mirroring that trend. Not surprisingly, in 1979 Auto-trol became the first CAD software vendor to successfully complete a public offering. The 1970s then was a decade which saw major advances in CAD software, especially in the fundamental geometric algorithms that CAD software was built on. Equally important, the power of computer hardware was steadily increasing while the new VAX minicomputers launched by DEC, by 1979 second only to IBM in market share, and minicomputers from Data-General, HP and Prime were continuing to reduce computer prices and operating costs and making CAD software accessible to smaller companies. In the late 1970s new high-level programming languages such as C and simpler operating systems such as UNIX were emerging into more wide-scale use and the first generation of graphics capable desktop computers (such as HewlettPackard's HP9845 series in 1978) was encouraging engineers to experiment with programming and heralding the dawn of workstation computing.

2nd,
CAD software, also referred to as Computer Aided Design (Computer Aided Drafting?) software and in the past as computer aided drafting software, refers to software programs that assist engineers and designers in a wide variety of industries to design and manufacture physical products ranging from buildings, bridges, roads, aircraft, ships and cars to digital cameras, mobile phones, TVs, clothes and of course computers! CAD software is often referred to as CAD CAM software ('CAM' is the acronym for Computer Aided Machining or Computer Aided Manufacturing). (A somewhat related concept is CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing).) While he could never have foreseen today's CAD software, no CAD software history would be complete unless it started with the mathematician Euclid of Alexandria, who, in his 350 B.C. treatise on mathematics "The Elements" expounded many of the postulates and axioms that are the foundations of the Euclidian geometry upon which today's CAD software systems are built.

It was more than 2,300 years after Euclid that the first true CAD software, a very innovative system (although of course primitive compared to today's CAD software) called "Sketchpad" [1] was developed by Ivan Sutherland as part of his PhD thesis at MIT in the early 1960s. Sketchpad was especially innovative CAD software because the designer interacted with the computer graphically by using a light pen to draw on the computer's monitor. It is a tribute to Ivan Sutherland's ingenuity that even in 2004, when operations which took hours on 1960s computer technology can be executed in less than a millionth of a second and touch-sensitive TFT combination display/input devices are readily available, there is no leading CAD software that has yet incorporated such directness into its user interface. In 1987 John Ousterhout devised Tcl as an interface to ease research he was then doing with CAD software for IC and PCB design. Tcl has become highly popular in this area, see for example this site [2].

3rd,
Looking back over the last 35 years of mechanical design, you cant fail to be anything but impressed with the creativity and enthusiasm thats driven design solutions in the mechanical, software engineering, and electronic design automation (EDA) industries. The Seventies By 1971 the mechanical CAD market was an established industry. Leading companies included Auto-trol, Computervision (acquired by PTC in 1998), Structural Dynamics Research Corp. (SDRC, acquired by UGS in 2001), the McAuto division of McDonnell-Douglas, and United Computing (now Siemens PLM Software). In general, however, MCAD products were unwieldy and expensive, and the computers and displays required to run the latest design software limited access to all but the largest companies. Generally, CAD tools duplicated the paper tasks of human operators. They automated laborious processes to produce clearer paperwork, with additional time-saving features such as automatic dimensioning and the ability to easily and quickly modify drawings. Design as an intellectual activity was supported by many CAD operators (evolved from draftspeople) who took conceptual paper sketches and mockups and translated them into computer-based MCAD files. These were then output as printed paper drawings of parts and assemblies. Once designs were complete they were passed to purchasing, production, and manufacturing, which were often located within the same building or at least on the same site. Essentially a local serial workflow.

In 1971, Intel Corporation launched the 4004 microprocessor, widely recognized as the first single-chip computer and arguably the starting point of the PC revolution. While the 4004 did not launch a new wave of design technologies, it heralded a change of monumental computing proportions through the 1980s and 1990s that affected the entire software market, none more notably than mechanical CAD. Also of particular note in the 1970s, Avions Marcel Dassault purchased a program called CADAM (Computer-Augmented Drafting and From 2D to 3D with AutoCAD in the 1980s. Manufacturing) from Lockheed in the U.S. and progressed during the next decade to (Image courtesy of Autodesk) launch CATIA (computer-aided threedimensional interactive application). Many applications at the time were proprietary to each major OEM and the emergence of applications such as CATIA signaled a change in the process for the development of MCAD applications. Large OEMs continued (and some of them still continue) to develop applications to maintain specific aspects of product and process differentiation. Competition and time to market fueled demand. The focus was to reduce design cycle times, and in particular to improve the productivity of each user. This in turn fueled the need for more raw processing and graphics power. We saw an expansion in the mechanical design software market from an estimated $25 million in 1970 to more than $1 billion in 1980, driven principally by increased demand from the then-affluent automotive and aerospace companies. Software that historically ran on dedicated computers and mainframes became readily available on lowerpriced minicomputers. And this drove down prices. The Eighties In the 1980s, two major trends appeared. The first was the rapid proliferation of personal computers as pioneered by IBM. The second was the move from simple drafting task automation (2D) to a more widespread use of 3D and indeed to begin the era of concurrent engineering where the emphasis was on decreasing time to market by increasing the parallel nature of development tasks. Concurrent engineering effectively took what was a predominantly sequential set of design and engineering processes and attempted to parallelize them.

Early version of Autodesk Designer. (Image courtesy of David Weisberg)

The advent of the PC was instrumental in moving the MCAD market to the masses, and the software vehicle that first delivered on this promise was AutoCAD from Autodesk. In 1982, AutoCAD was launched with the maxim that users got 80 percent of the functionality of mainframe software at 20 percent of the price. It took the 2D world by storm. It was not only a good drafting tool, but it allowed third-party developers to add applications to the core software, thereby creating added customer value and a powerful community of second-tier suppliers and products emerged. As the 2D market evolved, so too did 3D. And its evolution was matched with advances in workstation platforms and the underlying mathematical methods to create and define the models. 3D demanded even more processor power per user, which in turn drove developments in both graphics and processor design. The era of the personal workstation was born and the market saw dramatic growth in upstart computer companies like Sun, Apollo, and SGI (previously Silicon Graphics). Established computer vendors including HP, Digital, and IBM struggled to maintain pace with new open systems upstarts. At the time, the constraint on the 3D market was not so much the concept and benefits of designing in 3D, but more its ease of use and cost. Change came in 1987 when Parametric Technology Corp. (PTC) launched its parametric 3D design application Pro/ENGINEER. The revolutionary and easy Trunk exterior toolpaths created directly to operate 2D paradigm, slick user from math data by Patrick Hanratty for GM interface, and productive modeling techniques around 1966. (Image courtesy of David (although pioneered by Evan Sutherland some Weisberg) 20 years earlier) took the market by storm. Leading vendors struggled to rationalize their products in response to Pro/ENGINEER. Eventually, most 3D products evolved to contain elements of parametric constraints, historybased design concepts, and (at the time X-Windows-based) context-sensitive menus. The Nineties On entering the 1990s, Dassault Systmes (with its IBM sales partner), Unigraphics, SDRC, and Parametric Technology Corp. were clear leaders in many corporate accounts. Customers were looking to move to an all-3D digital product design concept pioneered, on the whole, by large companies such as Boeing and General Motors. Within this concept, software vendors focused on improvements in the quality, accuracy, speed, and concurrency within customer design teams as well as improved manufacturability. Long-time contenders such as Computervision and Intergraph suffered from the markets perceived view that their products were proprietary (including hardware), and because of the growing momentum to use more open-systems environments.

As the new order settled, SolidWorks, a startup 3D CAD company, launched its SolidWorks 95 3D application on a PC platform using the mantra 80 percent of Pro/ENGINEERs functionality at 20 percent of the price. (It was remarkably similar to Autodesks original credo). The company set out to redefine the mass use of 3D mechanical design as Autodesk did a decade before for 2D. Though the move to 3D is still considered too complex (in some cases too painful) by many, most believe that the market has moved on through the missionary stage to generally embrace the 3D paradigm. The move from drawing board to 2D CAD was an evolutionary process that demonstrated direct productivity gains. The benefits in the move from 2D to 3D have not, however, proven as simple or as measurable. Many of the benefits of working in the 3D world required substantial working practice and business process change. To many, the benefits derived AutoShade was available with AutoCAD were seen as being constrained by lack of imagination, software capability (possibly user R10. (Image courtesy of Autodesk) interface), complexity, and costs. In many cases, personal agendas were among the biggest hurdles to implementation. Business Models for A New Millennium Into the new millennium, the need for better quality, more speed, cheaper systems, and more complexity must be examined within the context of rapidly changing business models. For example, in the 1990s collaboration among numerous internal stakeholders was a significant problem. Today, concurrency must be achieved with disparate global networks of individuals, locations, and companies; each of which is expected to bring value to the product or design. As for the near term, there appear to be trends in two main areas. The first is to enable you to do more with the design (information) using less effort. This would include better tools to enable more comprehensive virtual product creation and testing. One challenge here is that the design activities of mechanical, electrical, electronic, and software teams are still siloed. The second trend focuses on developing values that affect a broader set of business issues. Design is just one of the many challenges when asking questions like: What products should we make, how can we make them, support, and dispose of them better? Could we refine our business workflow and manage interaction in a dispersed community? How can we differentiate on something other than price? These are elements of the vision often referred to as product lifecycle management (PLM). Some believe this is applicable only to larger companies. In reality it affects most businesses, but to differing extents.

The challenge to the likes of Dassault Systemes, Siemens PLM Software, PTC, Oracle/Agile, and more recently Autodesk is how to enable the PLM concept for the masses, not just the major corporations. The Million-Dollar Question If we look at past cycles in the CAD market over the last three and a half decades, there appear to be two principal topics that have delivered the next big thing:

A step change in usability (in fact its simpler to use and apply) to deliver appeal beyond larger companies to the masses. A step change in price-performance for what was considered as the most common (80 percent) functionality.

The million-dollar question is, wholl be the first to force the next change? Will it be based on one of the topics above? Will it be an established player or a new entrant? Whatever the case, from many peoples reckoning, the next big thing in MCAD appears to be somewhat overdue.

4 ,
CAD software history, 1960s
Euclid to SDRC...
CAD software, also referred to as Computer Aided Design software and in the past as computer aided drafting software, refers to software programs that assist engineers and designers in a wide variety of industries to design and manufacture physical products ranging from buildings, bridges, roads, aircraft, ships and cars to digital cameras, mobile phones, TVs, clothes and of course computers! CAD software is often referred to as CAD CAM software ('CAM' is the acronym for Computer Aided Machining). While he could never have foreseen today's CAD software, no CAD software history would be complete unless it started with the mathematician Euclid of Alexandria, who, in his 350 B.C. treatise on mathematics "The Elements" expounded many of the postulates and axioms that are the foundations of the Euclidian geometry upon which today's CAD software systems are built. It was more than 2,300 years after Euclid that the first true CAD software, a very innovative system (although of course primitive compared to today's CAD software) called "Sketchpad" was developed by Ivan Sutherland as part oh his PhD thesis at MIT in the early 1960s. Sketchpad was especially innovative CAD software because the designer interacted with the computer graphically by using a light pen to draw on the computer's monitor. It is a tribute to Ivan Sutherland's ingenuity that even in 2004, when operations which took hours on 1960s computer technology can be executed in less than a millionth of a second and touch-sensitive TFT combination display/input devices are readily available, there is no leading CAD software that has yet incorporated such directness into its user interface.

th

Sketchpad was the world's first CAD software but the first commercial CAM software system, a numerical control programming tool named PRONTO, had already been developed in 1957 by Dr. Patrick J. Hanratty. For that reason it is Dr. Hanratty who is most often referred to as "the father of CAD CAM". Due to the very high cost of early computers and to the unique mechanical engineering requirements of aircraft and automobiles, large aerospace and automotive companies were the earliest commercial users of CAD software. First-generation CAD software systems were typically 2D drafting applications developed by a manufacturer's internal IT group (often collaborating with university researchers) and primarily intended to automate repetitive drafting chores. Dr. Hanratty co-designed one such CAD system, named DAC (Design Automated by Computer) at General Motors Research Laboratories in the mid 1960s. Proprietary CAD software programs were also developed by McDonnell-Douglas (CADD released in 1966), Ford (PDGS released in 1967), Lockheed (CADAM released in 1967) and many others. Also in the mid 1960s, the Digigraphics division of Control Data Corporation released the first commercially available CAD software system. The system was a successor to ITEK's earlier CAD software research system (which was named "The Electronic Drafting Machine" and ran on a Digital Equipment Corp. PDP-1 mainframe computer) and as with the Sketchpad CAD software, input was made using a light pen. Digigraphics was priced at $500,000 per unit and only a very few units were ever sold. Much of the early pioneering research in 2D CAD software was performed at what was then MIT's Mathematical Laboratory (now the Department of Computer Science). European researchers were also becoming active though and in 1965, Charles Lang's team. including Donald Welbourn and A.R.Forrest, at Cambridge University's Computing Laboratory began serious research into 3D modeling CAD software. The commercial benefits of Cambridge University's 3D CAD software research did not begin to appear until the 1970 however, elsewhere in mid 1960s Europe, French researchers were doing pioneering work into complex 3D curve and surface geometry computation. Citroen's de Casteljau made fundamental strides in computing complex 3D curve geometry and Bezier (at Renault) published his breakthrough research, incorporating some of de Casteljau's algorithms, in the late 1960s. The work of both de Casteljau and Bezier continues to be one of the foundations of 3D CAD software to the present time. Both MIT (S.A.Coons in 1967) and Cambridge University (A.R.Forrest, one of Charles Lang's team, in 1968) were also very active in furthering research into the implementation of complex 3D curve and surface modeling in CAD software. Toward the end of the 1960s, interest in the commercial applications of CAD software was growing and by the end of the decade many CAD software companies, including, Applicon, Auto-trol, Computervision (which sold its first commercial CAD software license to Xerox in 1969), Evans & Sutherland, the McAuto division of McDonnell-Douglas (actually established in 1960), SDRC (Structural Dynamics Research Corp.) and United Computing had been established. Despite later waves of technology change, rapid growth and inevitable mergers and acquisitions, many of those early CAD software companies continue to be successful; some under their

original name (for example Auto-trol) and some under changed names (for example United Computing which is now UGS). Early pioneering researchers such as Dr. Hanratty, still the active President of MCS (Manufacturing and Consulting Services), Dr. Sutherland, Charles Lang and others continue to be very influential.

CAM
History
In the 1960s and 1970s, CAM software was characterized by manual programming-oriented, APT-based systems. Although others such as Compact 2 were employed at that time, APT was the prevalent language being used. APT was typically run on IBM mainframes. The 1980s saw the introduction of graphics-oriented software systems. Turnkey CAD/CAM systems were commonplace. In this scenario, the hardware and the software were sold as a package. Digital models were employed, and interactive programming was introduced. The 1990s became the PC era. Wintel-based PCs became the standard platform for both CAD and CAM software. The movement from 2D to 3D accelerated during this period, and 3D became common throughout the world. The use of solids became widespread, and CAM software accepted the use of this definition. Software for tool design, in contrast to product design, was first created during the 1990s. On the CAM side, the 1990s saw the introduction of automatic re-machining software to cut material left behind from a prior operation without re-machining of the entire part. High speed machine tools that support spindle speeds of 20,000 rpm or more and NC programming software to support them were introduced. Considerable enhancements to the CAM software, such as the use of NURBS output and rounding of tool paths, were required to effectively support these tools. CIMdata has referred to the 2000s as the era of the digital virtual enterprise. Most manufacturers are moving to a paperless factory environment, individual and complete operations are being modeled without prototyping, and tight interaction among contributors exists up and down the supply chain. The CAM environment in the 2000s is being further characterized by: * A process-centric orientation throughout a factory. * Interoperability and tight coupling among software products, permitting co-existence within an integrated solution. * The use of highly visual graphics-oriented functionality as a core capability within all software applications. * More application-specific software products that are targeted at the needs of particular types of users. * The use of hybrid solid and surface models to take advantage of the strengths of both formats. * Worldwide acceptance of 3D. * The re-emergence of five-axis positioning and simultaneous five-axis milling as a cost-effective and productive technique. * The introduction of adaptive and rule-oriented, knowledge-based software.

* The use of knowledge-embedded functionality within all application software. * Continued evolution to full programming automation.

Definition: Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) is the use of computer software and hardware in the translation of computer-aided design models into manufacturing instructions for numerical controlled machine tools.
Recent History of CAM in the United States
The history of CAM in the U.S. is a long, complex story that has been shaped by scientific, economic, and social factors. A detailed rendering of this history is beyond the scope of this report. This section instead provides a brief overview of the more recent developments that have helped shape the present status of CAM in this country and its prospects for contributing to the health and well being of our nation. Early American health care consisted of an eclectic mix of systems. In fact, until the middle of the 19th century, the vast majority of primary medical care in this country was provided by botanical healers, midwives, chiropractors, homeopaths, and an assortment of other lay healers offering a variety herbs and nostrums for a range of illnesses. This began to change in the latter part of the 19th century, however, with the development and validation of the germ theory and significant scientific advances in antiseptic techniques, anesthesia, and surgery. Beginning in the late 1800s and lasting until the early 20th century, there also was a major revolution in medical education that helped scientific medicine evolve into the dominant health care system of this country. This revolution in medical education began with the publication of William Osler's (1847-1919) textbook titled "The Principles and Practice of Medicine," in 1892. This book brought diagnostic clarity to medical practice and by 1905 Osler's textbook was the primary medical textbook in the vast majority of U.S. medical schools. This revolution culminated with the release of a report by Abraham Flexner in 1910 that served to crystallize the educational reform movement. After the release of the Flexner's report, many medical institutions that did not meet its standards were driven out of business or forced to implement significantly more rigorous training programs. Schools for many unorthodox healing systems either ceased to exist or became marginalized. With the isolation and elaboration of life-saving hormones, sulfa drugs, and other antibiotics in the early and middle of the 20th century, conventional medicine cemented its place as the nation's preeminent form of health care in this country. Although most of the other health care systems and their therapies did not disappear, they were considered by most of the public and the

mainstream medical community to be unscientific relics of the past. As a result, many were practiced in relative obscurity. With the reduced threat of infectious diseases and other acute illnesses, conventional medicine turned its focus to the more complex and costly problems of chronic, degenerative illnesses. As a result of public health interventions developed earlier in the 20th century, people began living significantly longer. This gradual aging of the population began to significantly increase the prevalence of chronic conditions, such as arthritis, back pain, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer, putting further pressure on conventional medicine to address these conditions. As the health care system developed more sophisticated means of diagnosing and managing chronic illnesses, the cost of health care began to rise dramatically. Between 1965 and 1975, national health care expenditures more than tripled, rising from just over $41 billion to nearly $130 billion. Although employers and government programs covered some of these increases, out-of-pocket expenditures more than doubled during this same period. Since then costs have continued to rise, with national health care expenditures reaching more than $1.2 trillion in 2000, the latest year for which such figures are available, and they are expected to reach more than $2.6 trillion by 2010. It was during this time of increasing rates of chronic illness and escalating health care costs that medical pluralism began to reemerge in this country. This reemergence was spurred on by a number of overlapping and sometimes interrelated movements. Beginning in the 1950s, the whole foods and dietary supplement movements began to change American' view of food as not only something they needed to stay alive but also as potential therapeutic agents. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Americans were increasingly exposed to a variety of traditional health care systems from foreign and indigenous cultures, many of which dated back to antiquity. New York Times writer James Reston's account of his emergency appendectomy in a Chinese hospital during the then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's visit to China in 1971 was particularly influential in this process. Reston's article described how his post-operative pain and discomfort were relieved by acupuncture and herbs. For most Americans, this was their first glimpse of Traditional Chinese Medicine and its potential uses. Today, use of CAM approaches and therapies is more prevalent in a number of patient populations in the Unites States, no matter how narrowly or broadly it is defined. Physicians, hospitals, and other conventional health care organizations also are showing a growing interest in CAM. Although such prevalence of use and interest in CAM is not an indication that these practices are effective, it does suggest that those with chronic conditions and the physicians who treat them are looking for more therapeutic options than are widely available in conventional health care settings. Indeed, for some chronic conditions, state-of-the-art conventional therapies have provided only modest gains. For example, according to a number of assessments over the years, expensive mainstream health care approaches to managing chronic lower back pain often have not been very effective. This is perhaps why individuals with back pain are some of the most frequent users of CAM practices.

Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) is the use of computer software to control machine tools and related machinery in the manufacturing of workpieces.[1][2][3][4][5] This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most common;[1] CAM may also refer to the use of a computer to assist in all operations of a manufacturing plant, including planning, management, transportation and storage.[6][7] Its primary purpose is to create a faster production process and components and tooling with more precise dimensions and material consistency, which in some cases, uses only the required amount of raw material (thus minimizing waste), while simultaneously reducing energy consumption

Machining process
Most machining progresses through many stages,[8] each of which is implemented by a variety of basic and sophisticated strategies, depending on the material and the software available. The stages are:
Roughing This process begins with raw stock, known as billet, and cuts it very roughly to shape of the final model. In milling, the result often gives the appearance of terraces, because the strategy has taken advantage of the ability to cut the model horizontally. Common strategies are zig-zag clearing, offset clearing, plunge roughing, rest-roughing. Semi-finishing This process begins with a roughed part that unevenly approximates the model and cuts to within a fixed offset distance from the model. The semi-finishing pass must leave a small amount of material so the tool can cut accurately while finishing, but not so little that the tool and material deflect instead of shearing. Common strategies are raster passes, waterline passes, constant step-over passes, pencil milling. Finishing Finishing involves a slow pass across the material in very fine steps to produce the finished part. In finishing, the step between one pass and another is minimal. Feed rates are low and spindle speeds are raised to produce an accurate surface. Contour milling

Since the age of the Industrial Revolution, the manufacturing process has undergone many dramatic changes. One of the most dramatic of these changes is the introduction of Computer

Aided Manufacturing (CAM), a system of using computer technology to assist the manufacturing process. Through the use of CAM, a factory can become highly automated, through systems such as realtime control and robotics. A CAM system usually seeks to control the production process through varying degrees of automation. Because each of the many manufacturing processes in a CAM system is computer controlled, a high degree of precision can be achieved that is not possible with a human interface. he CAM system, for example, sets the toolpath and executes precision machine operations based on the imported design. Some CAM systems bring in additional automation by also keeping track of materials and automating the ordering process, as well as tasks such as tool replacement. Computer Aided Manufacturing is commonly linked to Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems. The resulting integrated CAD/CAM system then takes the computer-generated design, and feeds it directly into the manufacturing system; the design is then converted into multiple computercontrolled processes, such as drilling or turning.

EXAMPLE OF SIEMENS COMPANY

CAM / Computer-Aided Manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) commonly refers to the use of numerical control (NC) computer software applications to create detailed instructions (G-code) that drive computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools for manufacturing parts. Manufacturers in a variety of industries depend on the capabilities of CAM to produce high-quality parts. A broader definition of CAM can include the use of computer applications to define a manufacturing plan for tooling design, computer-aided design (CAD) model preparation, NC programming, coordinate measuring machine (CMM) inspection programming, machine tool simulation, or post-processing. The plan is then executed in a production environment, such as direct numerical control (DNC), tool management, CNC machining, or CMM execution.

Benefits of CAM
The benefits of CAM include a properly defined manufacturing plan that delivers expected results in production.

CAM systems can maximize utilization of a full range of production equipment, including high speed, 5-axis, multi-function and turning machines, electrical discharge machining (EDM) and CMM inspection equipment. CAM systems can aid in creating, verifying, and optimizing NC programs for optimum machining productivity, as well as automate the creation of shop documentation.

Advanced CAM systems with product lifecycle management (PLM) integration can provide manufacturing planning and production personnel with data and process management to ensure use of correct data and standard resources. CAM and PLM systems can be integrated with DNC systems for delivery and management of files to CNC machines on the shop floor.

CAM Software
Here are examples of CAM software applications: NX CAM and CAM Express allow NC programmers to maximize the value of their investments in the latest, most efficient and most capable machine tools. NX CAM provides the full range of functions to address high speed surface machining, multi-function mill-turning, and 5-axis machining. CAM Express provides powerful NC programming with low total cost of ownership. NX Tooling and Fixture Design offers a set of automated applications for mold and die design, fixture design and other tooling processes built on a foundation of industry knowledge and best practices. Tecnomatix Part Planning and Validation allows manufacturing engineers, NC programmers, tool designers, and managers to work together to define and validate the part manufacturing process digitally. They can share tooling and resource libraries, and connect the plan data directly to shop floor systems such as DNC and tool management. The following software components are used by CAM software developers as the foundation for their applications: Parasolid is 3D geometric modeling component software, enabling users of Parasolid-based products to model complex parts and assemblies. It is used as the geometry engine in hundreds of different CAD, CAM and CAE applications. D-Cubed Components are six software libraries that can be licensed by software developers for integration into their products. The capabilities they provide include parametric sketching, part and assembly design, motion simulation, collision detection, clearance measurement and hidden line visualization. Benefits of Computer-Aided Manufacturing While undesirable for factory workers, the ideal state of affairs for manufacturers is an entirely automated manufacturing process. In conjunction with computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing enables manufacturers to reduce the costs of producing goods by minimising the involvement of human operators. In addition to lower running costs there are several additional benefits to using CAM software.

By removing the need to translate CAD models into manufacturing instructions through paper drafts it enables manufactures to make quick alterations to the product design, feeding updated instructions to the machine tools and seeing instant results. In addition, many CAM software packages have the ability to manage simple tasks such as the re-ordering of parts, further minimising human involvement. Though all numerical controlled machine tools have the ability to sense errors and automatically shut down, many can actually send a message to their human operators via mobile phones or e-mail, informing them of the problem and awaiting further instructions. All in all, CAM software represents a continuation of the trend to make manufacturing entirely automated. While CAD removed the need to retain a team of drafters to design new products, CAM removes the need for skilled and unskilled factory workers. All of these developments result in lower operational costs, lower end product prices and increased profits for manufacturers. Problems with Computer-Aided Manufacturing Unfortunately, there are several limitations of computer-aided manufacturing. Obviously, setting up the infrastructure to begin with can be extremely expensive. Computer-aided manufacturing requires not only the numerical controlled machine tools themselves but also an extensive suite of CAD/CAM software and hardware to develop the design models and convert them into manufacturing instructions as well as trained operatives to run them. Additionally, the field of computer-aided management is fraught with inconsistency. While all numerical controlled machine tools operate using G-code, there is no universally used standard for the code itself. Since there is such a wide variety of machine tools that use the code it tends to be the case that manufacturers create their own bespoke codes to operate their machinery. While this lack of standardisation may not be a problem in itself, it can become a problem when the time comes to convert 3D CAD designs into G-code. CAD systems tend to store data in their own proprietary format (in the same way that word processor applications do), so it can often be a challenge to transfer data from CAD to CAM software and then into whatever form of G-code the manufacturer employs. Further information regarding computer-aided manufacturing can be found at the Berkeley CAM Research site, UC Irvines CAM resource site and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (PDF).

Computer-aided design (CAD) involves creating computer models defined by geometrical parameters. These models typically appear on a computer monitor as a three-dimensional representation of a part or a system of parts, which can be readily altered by changing relevant parameters. CAD systems enable designers to view objects under a wide variety of representations and to test these objects by simulating real-world conditions.

Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) uses geometrical design data to control automated machinery. CAM systems are associated with computer numerical control (CNC) or direct numerical control (DNC) systems. These systems differ from older forms of numerical control (NC) in that geometrical data is encoded mechanically. Since both CAD and CAM use computer-based methods for encoding geometrical data, it is possible for the processes of design and manufacture to be highly integrated. Computer-aided design and manufacturing systems are commonly referred to as CAD/CAM.

THE ORIGINS OF CAD/CAM

CAD had its origins in three separate sources, which also serve to highlight the basic operations that CAD systems provide. The first source of CAD resulted from attempts to automate the drafting process. These developments were pioneered by the General Motors Research Laboratories in the early 1960s. One of the important time-saving advantages of computer modeling over traditional drafting methods is that the former can be quickly corrected or manipulated by changing a model's parameters. The second source of CAD was in the testing of designs by simulation. The use of computer modeling to test products was pioneered by hightech industries like aerospace and semiconductors. The third source of CAD development resulted from efforts to facilitate the flow from the design process to the manufacturing process using numerical control (NC) technologies, which enjoyed widespread use in many applications by the mid-1960s. It was this source that resulted in the linkage between CAD and CAM. One of the most important trends in CAD/CAM technologies is the ever-tighter integration between the design and manufacturing stages of CAD/CAM-based production processes. The development of CAD and CAM and particularly the linkage between the two overcame traditional NC shortcomings in expense, ease of use, and speed by enabling the design and manufacture of a part to be undertaken using the same system of encoding geometrical data. This innovation greatly shortened the period between design and manufacture and greatly expanded the scope of production processes for which automated machinery could be economically used. Just as important, CAD/CAM gave the designer much more direct control over the production process, creating the possibility of completely integrated design and manufacturing processes. The rapid growth in the use of CAD/CAM technologies after the early 1970s was made possible by the development of mass-produced silicon chips and the microprocessor, resulting in more readily affordable computers. As the price of computers continued to decline and their processing power improved, the use of CAD/CAM broadened from large firms using large-scale mass production techniques to firms of all sizes. The scope of operations to which CAD/CAM was applied broadened as well. In addition to parts-shaping by traditional machine tool processes such as stamping, drilling, milling, and grinding, CAD/CAM has come to be used by firms involved in producing consumer electronics, electronic components, molded plastics, and a host of other products. Computers are also used to control a number of manufacturing processes (such as chemical processing) that are not strictly defined as CAM because the control data are not based on geometrical parameters. Using CAD, it is possible to simulate in three dimensions the movement of a part through a production process. This process can simulate feed rates, angles and speeds of machine tools, the

position of part-holding clamps, as well as range and other constraints limiting the operations of a machine. The continuing development of the simulation of various manufacturing processes is one of the key means by which CAD and CAM systems are becoming increasingly integrated. CAD/CAM systems also facilitate communication among those involved in design, manufacturing, and other processes. This is of particular importance when one firm contracts another to either design or produce a component.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Modeling with CAD systems offers a number of advantages over traditional drafting methods that use rulers, squares, and compasses. For example, designs can be altered without erasing and redrawing. CAD systems also offer "zoom" features analogous to a camera lens, whereby a designer can magnify certain elements of a model to facilitate inspection. Computer models are typically three dimensional and can be rotated on any axis, much as one could rotate an actual three dimensional model in one's hand, enabling the designer to gain a fuller sense of the object. CAD systems also lend themselves to modeling cutaway drawings, in which the internal shape of a part is revealed, and to illustrating the spatial relationships among a system of parts. To understand CAD it is also useful to understand what CAD cannot do. CAD systems have no means of comprehending real-world concepts, such as the nature of the object being designed or the function that object will serve. CAD systems function by their capacity to codify geometrical concepts. Thus the design process using CAD involves transferring a designer's idea into a formal geometrical model. In CADCAM: From Principles to Practice, Chris Mc-Mahon and Jimmie Browne summarize limitations of existing CAD/CAM systems as follows: "There is a widespread view that CAD is not yet adequate as an aid to the designer in generating a design. CAD is considered to concentrate rather too much on providing means of representing the final form of the design, whereas designers also need a continual stream of advice and information to assist in decision making. The tasks of CAD systems of the future are therefore to represent a wider variety of a design's properties, in terms that are familiar to engineers, and of a company's organization and equipment that influence design." Other limitations to CAD are being addressed by research and development in the field of expert systems. This field derived from research done on artificial intelligence. One example of an expert system involves incorporating information about the nature of materialstheir weight, tensile strength, flexibility, and so oninto CAD software. By including this and other information, the CAD system could then "know" what an expert engineer knows when that engineer creates a design. The system could then mimic the engineer's thought pattern and actually "create" a design. Expert systems might involve the implementation of more abstract principles, such as the nature of gravity and friction, or the function and relation of commonly used parts, such as levers or nuts and bolts. Expert systems might also come to change the way data is stored and retrieved in CAD/CAM systems, supplanting the hierarchical system with one that offers greater flexibility. One of the key areas of development in CAD technologies is the simulation of performance. Among the most common types of simulation are testing for response to stress and modeling the process by which a part might be manufactured or the dynamic relationships among a system of

parts. In stress tests, model surfaces are shown by a grid or mesh, that distort as the part comes under simulated physical or thermal stress. Dynamics tests function as a complement or substitute for building working prototypes. The ease with which a part's specifications can be changed facilitates the development of optimal dynamic efficiencies, both as regards the functioning of a system of parts and the manufacture of any given part. Simulation is also used in electronic design automation, in which simulated flow of current through a circuit enables the rapid testing of various component configurations. The processes of design and manufacture are, in some sense, conceptually separable. Yet the design process must be undertaken with an understanding of the nature of the production process. It is necessary, for example, for a designer to know the properties of the materials with which the part might be built, the various techniques by which the part might be shaped, and the scale of production that is economically viable. The conceptual overlap between design and manufacture is suggestive of the potential benefits of CAD and CAM and the reason they are generally considered together as a system. Recent technical developments have fundamentally impacted the utility of CAD/CAM systems. For example, the ever-increasing processing power of personal computers has given them viability as a vehicle for CAD/CAM application. Another important trend is toward the establishment of a single CAD-CAM standard, so that different data packages can be exchanged without manufacturing and delivery delays, unnecessary design revisions, and other problems that continue to bedevil some CAD-CAM initiatives. Finally, CAD-CAM software continues to evolve on a continuing basis in such realms as visual representation and integration of modeling and testing applications.